This Website Just Made it Even Easier to Pressure Your Senator to Save Roe v. Wade

In a last-ditch effort to block the Supreme Court confirmation of SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh and save Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health advocates are using the viral hashtags #StopKavanaugh and #DearSenators to draw attention to a website that is making it even easier for ordinary voters to have their voices heard.

Planned Parenthood has set up the website dearsenators.org to allow anyone across the country to explain to demand that their senators help protect Roe v. Wade by not voting to confirm Kavanaugh’s nomination.

Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing will begin on September 4, giving concerned voters a couple of weeks to send messages or make phone calls and try to pressure their senators not to approve Trump’s second SCOTUS nomination. According to Roll Call, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants the Senate to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination by the end of September.

President Trump recently nominated the right-wing judge to the Supreme Court. Observers are confident that any Trump nominee to SCOTUS will result in serious damage to, or the total repeal of, Roe v. Wade, and Kavanaugh’s record suggests he’s no exception.

Given all this, it’s no surprise that Kavanaugh is wildly unpopular among women. According to a new CNN poll, less than 30 percent of women approve of Kavanaugh, with just 37 percent of people overall saying they approve. CNN notes that this is one of the lowest popularity ratings among Supreme Court nominees across four presidential administrations.

NARAL Pro-Choice America is planning a national day of action called “Unite for Justice 2018” on August 26 in protest of Kavanaugh’s nomination. The Unite for Justice website warns that, if confirmed, “Kavanaugh would rule against reproductive freedom, health care, the environment, voting rights, workers’ rights, LGBTQ rights, and immigrant rights for generations.”

Republicans hold a razor-thin majority in Congress, with 51 seats (including that of John McCain, who has been away from Capitol Hill as he contends with cancer) compared to the Democrats’ 49. As of July 30, there were eight Democratic senators saying they were currently undecided about voting for Kavanaugh, with the majority of Democrats saying they plan to oppose the nomination, according to CNN. Only three Republicans were undecided.

If Kavanaugh is appointed to the Supreme Court, it will be comprised of five conservatives and four liberals.

Kavanaugh recently came under national scrutiny when he made a ruling that sought to prevent an undocumented teenage girl from getting an abortion. The minor was able to get an abortion eventually, but Kavanaugh’s attempts to stall and stop the abortion highlight the kind of anti-abortion and anti-immigrant decisions that can be expected from him on the Court.

Elizabeth King is a politics, history, and culture writer based in the Twin Cities. She is generally pretty cranky but still enjoys traveling, music from the early 2000's, and plotting the resistance. Feel free to say hi on Twitter at @ekingc or check out some of her work at www.elizabethcking.com.